


we're (too) far from home

by rarmaster



Series: (who's gonna) Save the World [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts, RWBY, Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Save the World crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-16 23:09:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8121247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarmaster/pseuds/rarmaster
Summary: Part of the Save the World Crossover. There are rips in the time-space continuum, and these kids gotta try and survive (and, maybe put a stop to it).
Riku (the Riku Replica specifically, but shh) wakes up in a world he doesn’t recognize, and immediately finds some… interesting company. Of course, it’s hard to politely describe a talking hedgehog and a robot girl as anything OTHER than interesting, so like.





	

**Author's Note:**

> [Team B deets here!](http://stwcrossover.tumblr.com/teamb) Basics: Penny was taken from somewhere after/around season 2 of RWBY. Shadow was taken from slightly before Sonic 06 in the Sonic timeline (??) because I guess that's the Sonic game I care most about, rip me.
> 
> Riku is actually from FtPverse...!? The absolute short of it is he's the Riku Replica and he was saved from death and dropped in a parallel universe where there was no real Riku ever and now after a year or so there he lives with the HB gang. (It super rules.) [Clarification deets for him here!](http://stwcrossover.tumblr.com/post/147854137350/time-for-some-notes-regarding-riku-largely-so) ((FtPverse fans, he's taken from somewhere after part 3 of ATR.))

Riku wearily opened bleary eyes, confused. He couldn’t remember falling asleep. Last thing he remembered was walking through Radiant Garden…? And, this cold concrete below him was _not_ the uneven stone streets of Radiant Garden.

Before he could sit up or do anything, a face came into view above him. Short red-orange hair in a bob, wide green eyes, all smiles.

“Oh, look who’s awake!!” she gasped, excitedly.

“Finally,” said someone Riku couldn’t see. They had a gruff voice, and sounded completely disinterested, actually.

Riku sat up straight in a rush, every muscle in his body going tense. “Who are you?” he demanded, ready for a fight, anticipating a threat. He hated to, after all this time, but waking up somewhere he didn’t recognize was _not_ doing good things for his nerves. “Where is this? Did you two—”

“Relax, we didn’t do anything,” said the second voice. It belonged to… a black and red hedgehog? Riku’d met talking mice as well as ducks (and, whatever it was Goofy was), so seeing a _hedgehog_ wasn’t that strange, though it still earned a raise of his eyebrows.

“Yeah, we don’t really want to be here any more than you do,” the girl added. There was still that chipper note in her voice, as well as something wistful.

Riku considered them a moment, then, deciding he might as well trust them since they hadn’t proved hostile. (It’s what Aerith would have done, anyway.) He pushed himself to his feet and dusted himself off. Despite a slight ache in his bones, he seemed no worse for wear.

“Where…” he began, but, no, it would be better to introduce himself first. “I’m Riku,” he said.

“Penny!” chimed the girl, smiling wide and waving enthusiastically. “Salutations!”

“Shadow,” said the hedgehog, studying the area around them as if he expected a threat. Maybe he did. Or maybe he just didn’t want to look at Riku and Penny. Riku’d believe either.

Riku took a moment to consider the area more carefully himself. They were in… the streets of a city unlike one he’d ever seen. Buildings towered high, high, high above them, reaching the sky. The ground below them was all concrete, drab and grey in every direction, except where concrete gave way to brown dirt. Some of the buildings were smashed, and pieces of them—as well as other things—littered the street. The sky above was as grey as everything else, roiling clouds pressing down on them.

“Where are we?” Riku asked, hoping one of his new acquaintances would have an idea.

Shadow hummed a note of displeasure, though, and looking apologetic, Penny shook her head.

“We… really have no idea,” she said. “We’ve been wandering around for a while, Shadow and me, or, at least until you dropped out of the sky!” She giggled a little at that. “We got here much like you did.”

“It would seem something is ripping us out of our home worlds,” Shadow mused. He was glaring, arms across his chest.

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about that,” Riku said. He reached into his pocket, fishing out his star shard. “I don’t know where either of you live, but this thing—” He tossed it into the air once, for show “—should at least be able to get to my home, and hopefully to yours from there.” He flashed them both a reassuring (and, maybe a little bit cocky) grin.

“Oh!” Penny leaned in, examining it. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.” She poked at it. “How does it work?”

“It’s a star shard,” Riku explained. “You wish to be somewhere, and it takes you there.” He looked between Penny and Shadow, mainly at Shadow, who was still standing a couple yards away from them. He cleared his throat. “We’ll, uh… have to hold hands, though. Doesn’t work otherwise.”

“Okay!” Penny thrust her hand out at Riku, and he took it. (Her hand was cold, strangely enough, like metal.) (Well, he could ask questions later.) Penny thrust her other hand in Shadow’s direction. “Come on, Shadow!” she called. “I know you don’t seem to like me very much, but you want to get home, don’t you?”

Shadow considered Penny, and then Riku, his red eyes narrowed. Then he sighed, and, pointedly looking away, came over and grabbed Penny’s hand.

“Alright.” Riku closed his eyes and thought of Radiant Garden, picturing the area _outside_ of Aerith’s house firmly in his mind. For good measure, he gave the star shard a little squeeze—he knew it didn’t do anything, it just made him feel better.

Instead of the feeling of being whisked through the stars…..

Nothing……..

Happened……..

Riku opened his eyes. “Oh,” he said. His stomach twisted a little bit. He pulled his hand out of Penny’s and flicked the star shard. It didn’t… _look_ broken. He grabbed for Penny’s hand, closed his eyes and wished again, this time picturing inside Aerith’s house, as well as summoning all the thoughts of his family he could muster.

That…

Didn’t do anything, either.

Sighing, Riku let go of Penny’s hand for good this time. “Huh, I uh, guess it isn’t. Um. Working.” He swallowed around a lump in his throat. If _it_ wasn’t working, then—

He reached out and formed a dark corridor, grateful that wasn’t one of the darkness-related abilities he had lost (it was, the _only_ darkness related ability he hadn’t lost, but). He poked his head through, before stepping through completely, just to be safe.

It was a good thing, too.

The dark corridor let out somewhere that was decidedly not Radiant Garden. It was dark and dreadful, the darkness pressing in on all sides, hungry, pulsing—

Riku pulled his head out and hastily closed it.

“Well. I guess that won’t work either,” he said. His stomach felt like it was on the ground, his heart not just in his throat but in his mouth. If he couldn’t get home, then…

Aerith would be worried sick, as would everyone else. He’d- he’d made plans with Kairi. And what about Namine? Would she do okay? And- and if _he’d_ been pulled away from his world, then had everyone else…?

“It’s alright,” Penny said. She rest her hand on Riku’s shoulder, and Riku jolted, moving away from her as quick as possible, muscles tensing, energy sparking in his hand to summon his blade—no. No, it was fine, he told his racing heart. It wasn’t a threat.

“Oops! Sorry.” Penny smiled apologetically, pulling her hands in to her chest. “I just, um… I wanted to say it was going to be okay! I’m not quite sure how, yet, but… I _think_ that there must be a way back home, for all of us.”

“Right, maybe,” Riku agreed, trying to believe it. There were other forms of transportation, besides star shards and dark corridors, he knew, but that knowledge wasn’t making this any easier on him.

“Hey, I miss my friends and family, too…!” Penny continued. She sounded like she was trying to be sympathetic. “I’m sure they’re all very worried about me. My father, especially, but… probably Ruby as well.”

She hummed as she considered that, and then leaned even closer to Riku. Putting a hand between her mouth and Shadow, she whispered dramatically:

“Shadow acts like he doesn’t have any friends, but I know better.”

Despite himself, Riku chuckled a little.

Penny reminded him a little of Joseph. And a little of Yuffie? He wasn’t entirely sure…

“Anyway!” Penny straightened, beaming. “Before you dropped out of the sky, Shadow and I were heading there!” She pointed past Riku, to a tall building in the distance—taller than any of the others, mostly undamaged.

“Why there?” Riku asked.

“Well, I thought we should check some of the buildings, to maybe find a way out of here,” Penny said. “And Shadow suggested we should start with the tallest!”

“The tallest building has to be the most important, right?” Shadow added.

Riku shrugged. He’d never been in a city like this before. (But, he supposed, if it was his first time in Radiant Garden, and he had no idea where to go, he may have started with the castle.)

“Then… I guess we should go check it out,” Riku said.

“Great,” Shadow replied, a heavy note of sarcasm in his voice. He sped past Riku and Penny both at an alarming speed, one that only seemed to grow the further he went.

Riku had only a second to look, but that was enough to note the shoes he was wearing. Some kind of hover skates? Riku peered after Shadow, wondering how fast he could go in those.

Penny groaned. “Ugh, he always does this!”

Riku laughed a little in disbelief. There was still a weight in his chest, though. If he couldn’t get home, then… actually, there _was_ one more thing he could try.

“Um, before we head to the tower, do you think I could try and call my family? Let them know I’m okay,” Riku said, turning to Penny.

“Sure!” she told him, nodding. “I can’t promise it will work, but maybe you’ll have better luck than I did. I’ll go catch Shadow and tell him to wait up.”

Saluting, she ran after Shadow. After a moment, she leapt in the air, and then propelled herself down the street with what looked like might have been rocket boots? Riku wasn’t sure. He’d have to tell them when he caught up that there was no way he could move that fast.

Anyway…

Riku pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Aerith.

It didn’t even ring once before it started beeping at him because he didn’t have service.

Sighing, Riku pulled up messaging instead.

> _Something happened. Can’t get home. I’m okay._

He typed the text rapidly, so as to not waste any more of Shadow and Penny’s time, then hit send. His phone beeped again for not having service, but the little circle kept spinning, so it was obviously _trying_ to send.

Riku slipped the phone back in his pocket. He’d leave it like that, then—maybe he’d hit a patch of service and it would send then. He could only hope.


End file.
